UK industrial output limps into Q2

london — Britain’s economy appears to have struggled even before Friday’s inconclusive election result, with data on Friday showing industrial output rose less than expected in April after falling in the previous three months.

Industrial output rose 0.2 per cent on the month in April, much weaker than a forecast 0.8 per cent, and contracted over a three-month period for the first time since November, the Office for National Statistics said.

Manufacturing, which is part of overall industrial output, also saw output rise 0.2 per cent in April, compared with a forecast of 0.9 per cent in the Reuters poll. The construction sector was weaker than expected too.

After last year’s shock decision by voters to pull Britain out of the European Union, the country is now facing yet more political upheaval after Prime Minister Theresa May’s unexpected failure to win a parliamentary majority.“There is clearly a risk that today’s election result causes growth to weaken towards the end of the second quarter,” Ruth Gregory, an economist with Capital Economics, said.

“That said, this is unlikely to spell disaster since the economy has proved pretty resilient to political uncertainty in the recent past.”

Britain’s economy slowed sharply in the first three months of 2017, making it the worst performer among the Group of Seven nations after outpacing its peers in 2016, despite the shock of the Brexit vote. — Reuters